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Victoria's Secret shares spike 40% after big earnings beat, raised sales outlook
North America
CNBC•6/2/2026

Victoria's Secret shares spike 40% after big earnings beat, raised sales outlook

Shoppers may be feeling gloomy about high prices at the pump, but they're still shelling out for new bras and underwear at Victoria's Secret. The lingerie retailer raised its full-year guidance on Tuesday after blowing past earnings estimates in its fiscal first quarter, citing lower tariff costs and more customers willing to spend full price on its products. Shares of Victoria's Secret closed 47% higher. There was "very consistent, double-digit [sales] increases across Victoria's Secret, Pink, beauty channels, digital, stores and international, all very positive," CEO Hillary Super told CNBC in an interview. "Supercharging bras being one of our most important initiatives, double-digit [comparable sales growth] there, and I think the loyalty that bras creates and the anchor that it is in the business is just so important." Super added the company grew sales with "significantly" fewer promotions and gained market share during the quarter, particularly with shoppers ages 18 to 24. During the first quarter, some retailers saw strong growth that they attributed partially to higher tax refunds. While Victoria's Secret finance chief Scott Sekella said some customers used that extra stimulus to go shopping at its stores, it was a "normal amount," and trends have remained consistent so far this quarter, even with tax refunds having dried up for many people. Victoria's Secret is now expecting full-year sales to be between $7.03 billion and $7.13 billion, up from a previous range of between $6.85 billion to $6.95 billion and well ahead of estimates of $6.99 billion, according to LSEG. The company also raised its full-year guidance for adjusted opening income by more than $100 million. It's now expecting adjusted operating income to be between $550 million and $580 million, up from a previous range of between $430 million to $460 million. Sekella said the company hiked its outlook because better-than-expected sales led to stronger leverage on fixed costs, and it also factored in lower tariff rates now that many of President Donald Trump's sweeping duties have been ruled illegal. "All of this is predicated on the Q1 that we had, the momentum we see into Q2 and how we feel about our back half launches," said Sekella. The company also issued rosy guidance for the current quarter, even as some peers released conservative outlooks as they monitor whether consumers pull back on spending without the boost from tax refunds. It said it's expecting sales to be between $1.59 billion and $1.62 billion, beating expectations of $1.56 billion, according to LSEG. The company's reported net income for the three-month period that ended May 2 was $47.7 million, or 56 cents per share, compared with a loss of $1.66 million, or 2 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time restructuring costs, Victoria's Secret saw earnings per share of 60 cents. Sales rose to $1.56 billion, up about 15% from $1.35 billion a year earlier. Comparable sales, including stores and e-commerce revenue, grew 13%, beating expectations of 11.4%, according to StreetAccount.

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Microsoft testing wearable AI gadget aimed at office workers
Europe
BBC Business•6/2/2026

Microsoft testing wearable AI gadget aimed at office workers

Microsoft is developing new wearable technology with an artificial intelligence (AI) enabled gadget. During its yearly conference for technology developers, Microsoft executive Steven Bathiche showed off two "concepts" that the company has developed for hardware products intended for people who often use AI tools in their work. One device was a small portable cube with a touch and voice-activated screen, meant for a desk. The other was "a wearable access badge," Bathiche said, to hang around the neck or on a belt loop, giving quick access to AI-driven work Satya Nadella, Microsoft chief executive, said such gadgets represented a "new form factor" for technology devices. While Microsoft did not say it would bring either of these products to market, it said current pilots with the devices "will inform how these form factors can be built" in the future. The company developed a wearable headset, called the Hololens, akin to the Meta Quest or Apple's Vision Pro headsets. The Hololens was even set to be sold to the US Army in a contract worth billions of dollars. But after almost a decade of development, and ongoing issues during testing by the military, Microsoft said in 2024 it would stop producing Hololens. Google is also having a second go at wearables, as that company recently said it would try again with "smart glasses" more than a decade after its notorious Google Glass flop. In a video demonstrating Microsoft's AI-driven access badge and desktop device, part of what Nadella called Project Solara, people doing mainly office work were shown tapping the screens on both devices in order to see and connect to work being done by AI agents. Agents are essentially AI bots doing tasks somewhat autonomously. Such agents are widely used by technology workers, assisting in their writing of software code, for instance. The advancement of this kind of AI assistance has been cited widely by major tech executives in a recent wave of layoffs that have impacted many thousands of workers.

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Indonesia's GoTo cofounder calls Chromebook graft charges 'illusion' of law
Asia-Pacific
Nikkei Asia•6/2/2026

Indonesia's GoTo cofounder calls Chromebook graft charges 'illusion' of law

Nadiem Makarim, who presented his defense statement on June 2, said prosecutors "forced" connections between Chromebook procurement and Google's investment in Gojek, the company he founded before serving as Indonesia's education minister. (Photo by Mira Maruto) JAKARTA -- Nadiem Makarim, former education minister and the founder of Indonesian ride-hailing company Gojek, on Tuesday suggested his graft prosecution was a personal vendetta and accused prosecutors of "poor" understanding of technology and business, resulting in their demand that he be jailed for 27 years.

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Can China’s caesium-from-brine tech cut reliance on Canadian, Australian ores?
China / Asia
South China Morning Post•6/2/2026

Can China’s caesium-from-brine tech cut reliance on Canadian, Australian ores?

Zhang Tongin BeijingPublished: 10:00pm, 2 Jun 2026Updated: 10:08pm, 2 Jun 2026Chinese researchers have developed an environmentally friendly method to extract caesium from brine, a process they say could boost China’s supply of the strategic resource. Caesium, a rare metal, is a critical strategic resource used in satellite atomic clocks, missile thermal imaging sensors and advanced speciality glass. China and the United States are the top consumers of caesium, yet both rely heavily on imports. It is primarily found in the Earth’s crustal ores as well as salt lake brines and seawater. Known commercial deposits include the Tanco mine in Canada, the Bikita mine in Zimbabwe, the Karibib project in Namibia and the Sinclair deposit in Australia. China’s state-owned Sinomine Resources controls the Tanco and Bikita operations but domestic caesium reserves – while considerable – are mostly locked in brine that is difficult to process. Only a fraction exist as caesium ores, and most are low-grade associated minerals. The caesium present in salt lake brine poses two major challenges: its concentration is relatively low, and the brine contains high levels of sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium and rubidium ions, which interfere with caesium separation. A team led by Zhou Yongquan of the Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has proposed a stable and efficient method to extract caesium from salt lakes, a breakthrough that could help diversify China’s industrial supply chain. The team’s findings have been published in the peer-reviewed Chemical Engineering Journal. The team developed a sieve-like mechanism to trap caesium, creating a material that selectively acts like a magnet for caesium ions. When brine is passed through a column packed with this material, caesium ions are “sieved” out. Moreover, the material can be repeatedly reused.

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Audemars Piguet's watch prices remain stable after controversial Swatch collab
North America
CNBC•6/2/2026

Audemars Piguet's watch prices remain stable after controversial Swatch collab

When the famed luxury watch brand Audemars Piguet announced a collaboration with Swatch last month, some Audemars collectors feared the worst. Rapper DDG said he would sell his $180,000 Audemars Piguet if the collaboration grew too big and cheapened the brand. Members of the self-appointed horology community warned that one of the "Holy Trinity" of watch brands, famed for innovative complications, or features, and designs, had gone plastic. Yet a few weeks after the launch of the AP-Swatch Royal Pop collection, AP prices have held steady on the secondary market. Despite predictions of a collapse in Audemars Piguet's brand value and exclusivity, experts say AP is still AP. "There has been no discernible impact on AP prices from the launch," said Hamza Masood, head of partnerships at WatchCharts, which tracks secondary values for all major AP models. It's early, of course, but Masood said Royal Pop, the collection of brightly colored watches on lanyards, is part of AP's longer-term strategy of attracting the next generation of collectors. AP's signature Royal Oak watches typically retail for more than $50,000 and have a multiyear waiting list. Royal Pop makes the brand accessible to younger buyers and more women. "Fundamentally, everybody recognizes that this does not really eat into AP equity in any real, meaningful way," Masood said. "The product is not diluting the Royal Oak collector experience, because it's not even designed to be a wristwatch." After a speculative bubble in luxury watches during the pandemic, the luxury watch market plunged in 2022 and is only now starting to stabilize. WatchCharts' AP Index — comprising the top 30 models from the brand — is down about 40% from its peak in 2022. Rolex and Patek Philippe, the other two of the "Big Three" luxury watchmakers, are also down from their peaks. In the first quarter, AP's secondary prices were up 2%, compared with an increase of 1.7% for Rolex and 3% for Patek, according to WatchCharts. AP's inventory is aging more than that of its peers, suggesting a larger mismatch between demand and supply. "AP has [so far] not seen the same level of market recovery as the other two members of the Big Three," Masood said. Still, he said the Royal Pop gave AP something even money can rarely buy: cultural buzz on social media and digital news. The burst of attention will spark interest among teens and 20-somethings, who one day will be able to afford a Royal Oak.

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Water firm fined £1.8m over parasite outbreak
Europe
BBC Business•6/2/2026

Water firm fined £1.8m over parasite outbreak

South West Water has been fined almost £2m after the supply in and around Brixham, Devon, was contaminated with the parasite cryptosporidium. The utility firm was sentenced to the record fine for a drinking water offence at Exeter Magistrates' Court following a prosecution brought by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI). The company pleaded guilty to supplying water unfit for human consumption at an earlier hearing, offering a "full and unreserved apology". Four people were hospitalised and there were more than 140 confirmed cases of sickness and diarrhoea during the 54-day incident in May 2024. Judge Stuart Smith told the court it had been "a major public health incident" in which "disruption to daily life was extensive". He said the harm had been "wide-ranging and profound" and the system of monitoring air valves had been "inadequate". He said the "unvarnished reality" was there had been no visual inspection scheme of air valves which showed a "systemic failure of governance" of South West Water. Smith said there had been mitigating factors and he had reduced the £1.853m fine by a third as the company had entered an early guilty plea. The largest fine to be handed to a water firm to date is the £122.7m penalty water industry regulator Ofwat handed to Thames Water for breaching rules over sewage spills and shareholder payouts in May 2025. South West Water offered those affected an "unreserved apology" and said it wanted to publicly record its "genuine remorse" for the incident. Smith said the company had responded rapidly once the contamination had been discovered, had deployed "substantial personnel" and provided "substantial financial remediation" to those affected. Keith Haslett, chief executive of the Pennon Group which owns South West Water, said: "It is very clear we must learn lessons from this incident and work hard to rebuild trust with the customers and communities we serve, both in Brixham and beyond."

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Putin in Beijing, ‘China shock’ in EU: 7 global relations reads
China / Asia
South China Morning Post•6/2/2026

Putin in Beijing, ‘China shock’ in EU: 7 global relations reads

SCMPPublished: 10:00pm, 2 Jun 2026We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering global relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing.1. Brussels agrees on tougher China trade policy, as Beijing vows retaliationPhoto: ReutersThe European Commission agreed on a tough new approach to trade relations with China in May, at a rare Beijing-focused debate among Brussels’ leadership. The trade-focused orientation debate is seen internally as the firing of a starting gun ahead of an intense period for China policy. Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing for a visit aimed at deepening the two sides’ comprehensive partnership, four days after the Chinese capital hosted US President Donald Trump. China’s military said that it had used measures including electronic interference to drive away a Dutch warship near the disputed Paracel Islands, and in a rare move accused the Dutch navy of triggering “miscalculation”.

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McDonald's unveils new global growth strategy to win over diners as competition rises
North America
CNBC•6/1/2026

McDonald's unveils new global growth strategy to win over diners as competition rises

McDonald's on Monday unveiled its latest global growth strategy to help the fast-food giant become customers' first choice as it faces new rivals and consumer spending stretched by high gas prices. A new restaurant design, better-tasting food and drinks, consumer-led innovation and improved customer service are the four cornerstones of the new plan, which the company calls "McDonald's > NEXT." Executives made the announcement at McDonald's biennial Worldwide Convention for franchisees, held this year in Las Vegas. The chain released its last global strategy, known as "Accelerating the Arches," in November 2020 as its sales bounced back from the pandemic. The growth plan comes as restaurants compete for a smaller pool of customers, and a new crop of chains, including Raising Cane's and 7 Brew Drive Thru Coffee, threaten McDonald's sales. So far, McDonald's, the largest U.S. restaurant chain by revenue, has managed to hold onto its dominant spot, with four straight quarters of same-store sales growth. "Traditional competitors are upgrading their menus, and a new wave of specialists are emerging and redefining taste and quality across chicken, beef, and beverages," McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski wrote in a memo to the chain's global system. "In a world where every restaurant is a swipe away, there is no such thing as second place," he added. To become diners' first option, McDonald's plans to focus on menu innovation that elevates taste and quality, like improvements to its McCrispy chicken line. For years, the chain has sought to improve and expand its chicken offerings as rivals like Chick-fil-A stole its customers. Plus, Americans have been eating more chicken than beef for the past 16 years, due to health concerns tied to the consumption of red meat and higher beef prices, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. "We're raising the bar for our menu by improving quality and consistency at scale and innovating in spaces where we see growth potential and know matter to our customers, like chicken, beef and beverages," said Jill McDonald, the chain's global chief restaurant experience officer. The chain also wants to "co-create" with customers by listening more closely to what consumers want and how they interact with brands. Recent examples include the popularity of its viral Grimace milkshake and its collaboration with "A Minecraft Movie." The new restaurant design will give McDonald's a recognizable look, but it should also ease employee headaches and improve kitchen operations. The company said back-end systems will be more intuitive and connected, for example. McDonald's is also testing automated order taking at five U.S. restaurants using a system it named ARCHY to let employees focus on other tasks. More broadly, the chain also said it wants to "redefine hospitality" by improving customer service and training employees to interact more with diners. In September, the company will hold an investor day that will include more details about the strategy and relevant financial targets.

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King told me Post Office scandal was 'dreadful', says oldest victim
Europe
BBC Business•6/2/2026

King told me Post Office scandal was 'dreadful', says oldest victim

The oldest surviving victim of the Post Office scandal has said the King told her it was a "dreadful thing" and "should never have happened". The 93-year-old said she asked His Majesty to talk to the prime minister about ensuring those responsible for hundreds of sub-postmasters being wrongfully prosecuted would be investigated by the police and brought to justice. She described meeting the monarch and receiving the honour as "lovely", adding she "never ever dreamt that this would happen". "The reason that I'm here is very sad and I don't forget that. All the heart ache of the families that this has destroyed, the heart ache of children left with nothing, that still hurts, it'll always hurt," she added. Mrs Brown was one of hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly accused of stealing or false accounting between 1999 and 2015 after a faulty IT system called Horizon made it look like money was missing from branch accounts. The scandal has been described as one of the widest miscarriages of justice in the British legal history. The pensioner was forced out of her County Durham Post Office in 2003 - despite her late husband Oswall having paid more than £50,000 of their savings to cover non-existent shortfalls. They had run the branch together since 1985. Mrs Brown was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to justice after campaigning for sub-postmasters affected by the scandal. "I said to him...would you tell your prime minister and your ministers that justice has no cost...There is no cost to justice. Doesn't matter what it costs, justice must be done," she added. Last week, police chiefs warned the criminal investigation into the Post Office scandal could be delayed by five years unless they received millions of pounds in extra funding. The commander leading the national police inquiry, Stephen Clayman, said the size of the investigation team would need to double to meet its current timeline of submitting files for potential prosecutions by late next year or early 2028. A government spokesperson said the scandal was "an appalling injustice" and that it was "considering requests for further funding".

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